Latch for hatch covers for hopper cars

ABSTRACT

A latch mounted on the roof of a hopper car is arranged to hold a pivoted cover in closed position over a trough in the car and comprises outer and inner spaced flanges upstanding from the roof with a keeper therebetween having a laterally extending arm for adjustable latching engagement with the cover and mounted for translatory and pivotal movement under the control of a handle also mounted between the flanges and provided with a lock to hold the handle in locked position.

' United States Patent 1191 Jensen et a1.

LATCH FOR HATCH COVERS FOR HOPPER CARS lnventors: Finn Jensen, Dolton; Rudolph E. Nadherny, Naperville, both of 111.

Assignee: Illinois Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111.

Filed: Oct. 2, 1973 Appl. No.: 402,830

US. Cl 292/256.5, 292/259, 292/66, 292/113 Int. Cl. E05c 5/00 Field of Search. 292/259, 256, 256.5, DIG. 49, 292/66, 113, 111

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1903 Armstrong 292/256.5 7/1972 Mathews.... 292/66 X 1 H1927 Seguin 1 292/113 1 H1960 Nockels 292/113 1451 Nov. 19, 1974 1 2,966,706 l/l961 Christensen 292/1 13 X 3,099,474 7/1963 Archer 292/25615 3,325,200 6/1967 Fowley 292/66 X 3,476,425 11/1969 Chartrand 292/113 3,664,270 5/1972 Stark 292/2565 X Primary Examiner-Roy D. Frazier Assistant ExaminerPeter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert R. Lockwood [5 7 ABSTRACT A latch mounted on the roof of a hopper car is arranged to hold a pivoted cover in closed position over a trough in the car and comprises outer and inner spaced flanges upstanding from the roof with a keeper therebetween having a laterally extending arm for adjustable latching engagement with the cover and mounted for translatory and pivotal movement under the control of a handle also mounted between the flanges and provided with a lock to hold the handle in locked position.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEL NOV 1 9 I974 sum 3 OF 3 LATCH FOR HATCH COVERS FOR HOPPER CARS This invention relates generally to railway hopper cars and it has particular relation to latches for the pivoted covers thereof. It constitutes an improvement over the construction disclosed in application Ser. No. 388,995, filed Aug. 16, 1973.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide latches for hatch covers for railway cars capable of securely holding the hatch covers closed; to arrange for a latch handle to shift a keeper with combined transla tory-and pivotal movements between latched and unlatched positions; to mount the latch handle and keeper between upstanding stationary outer and inner flanges on the roof of a railway car; and to provide for manu-- ally locking and unlocking the latch handle.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view, in end elevation, of a latch in latched position constructed in accordance with this invention and applied to the distal edge of a hatch cover of a hopper car, a portion of which is shown in section.

FIG. 2 is a view, in front elevation, of the construction shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan-view of the latch as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4, Sheet 1, shows the latch in unlatched position.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the latch with the several parts shown in spaced relation.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the handle looking from left to right.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference character designates a portion of the roof of a hopper railway car having an upstanding inclined side wall 11 with a semicircular upper end 12. The side wall 11 defines one side of a trough 13 through which the railway car is filled with lading or through which the lading is withdrawn. The trough 13 is arrranged to be closed by a hatch cover 14 that is hinged (not shown) along the left edge while the distal edge 15 extends beyond the side wall 11 as shown. The hatch cover may be formed of suitable material, such as molded fiberglass. An angularly shaped metallic support 16 overlies the distal edge 15 and surmounting it is a latch strap 17 having a laterally extending distal end 18. A resilient compressible gasket 19 is interposed between the semi-circular upper end 12 and the under side of the hatch cover 14 to provide a seal therebetween.

The hatch cover 14 is held closed and the gasket 19 maintained in compressed state by number of latches one of which is shown, generally, at 22.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 the latch 22 includes an angularly shaped outer housing 23 of suitable high strength metal and includes an upstanding outer flange 24 and a horizontal base 25. In FIG. 1 it will be observed that the inner end of the horizontal base 25 is welded at 26 to the inclined side wall 11 and that the outer end is welded at 27 to the upper end of an upstanding plate 28 the lower end of which is welded at 29 to theroof 10.

Again referring to FIG. 5 it will be noted that the latch 22 includes an inner housing that is shown, generally, at 32. It is formed of suitable high strength metal and includes an upstanding inner flange 33 and a horizontal base 34 that is secured by suitable means such as projection welding to the upper side of the horizontal base 25. As shown in FIG. 1 the outer flange 24 and the inner flange 33 are in parallel spaced relation with the latter on the side adjacent the hatch cover 14. The upstanding flanges 24 and 33 are mounted in the man-' ner described stationarily on the roof 10.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 there are mounted be-.

tween the flanges 24 and 33 a keeper, indicated generally at 37, and a handle, indicated generally at 38. The keeper 37 is formed of suitable highstrength metal and is provided at its upper end with a laterally extending arm 39 for overlying the distal end 18 of the latch strap 17 in the latched position. In order to accommodate variations in construction provision is made for adjusting the position of the armm 39 with respect to the underlying distal end 18 of the latch strap 17. For this purpose there is provided an adjusting bolt 40 that is threaded into an opening 40', FIG. 5, in the arm 39. A lock nut 41 is employed to hold the adjusting bolt 40 in the adjusted position.

Referring now to FIG. 5 it will be observed that the keeper 37 is provided with a platelike vertical section 42 at the lower end of which there is a laterally extending follower 43 which is arranged to project into a slot 44 that is formed in the flange 33 of the inner housing 32. The slot 44 at its lower end has anupwardly extending vertical section 45 which merges into an acruate section 46. It 'will. be understood that the slot 44 is employed for guiding the keeper 37 in a translatory and pivotable movement between the latched and unlatched positions of the latch 22.

The platelike vertical section 42 of the keeper 37 has an'L-shaped slot 49 formed therein. It comprises a vertical arm 50 and a horizontal arm 5]. At the juncture between these arms there is a notch 52 the purpose of which will be apparent presently.

For mounting the keeper 37 and the handle 38 between the outer and inner flanges 24 and 33 there is provided a pivot member 53 in the form of a tubular rivet. It is arranged to extend through an opening 54 in the outer flange 24, an opening 55 in the handle 38, the upper end 56 of the arm 50 and an opening 57 in the inner flange 33. In the assembled condition of the latach 22 the left end of the pivot member 53 is headed over as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 1.

In order to effect movement of the keeper 37 between the latched and the unlatched positions thereof there is provided a detent 60 that is formed integrally with the handle 38 that is forged of high strength metal. In the latched position of the keeper 37 the detent 60 is located at the lower end of the vertical arm 50 in the notch 52. This is illustrated in FIG. 2 where there is shown a shoulder 61 interconnecting the notch 52 with the horizontal arm 51. As will appear hereinafter the detent 60 occupies an overcenter relation with respect to the pivot member 53 when the handle 38 is in the latched position. A substantial force must be exerted on the handle 38 in order to move the detent 60 out of the over center position in the notch 52 and over the shoulder 61 into the'horizontal arm 51 where it engages the under surface 62 thereof to effect first a vertical movement of the keeper 37 as guided by the follower 43 in the upwardly extending section 45 of the slot 44. As the detent 60 moves along the horizontal arm 51 and after the follower 43 has moved into the arcuate section 46 of the slot 44, the keeper 37 is pivoted so that the arm 39 is shifted vertically and arcuately out of overlying relation with respect to the distal end 18 of the latch strap 17 and finally reaches the position il- 'lustrated in FIG. 4 which is the unlatched position of position there is formed integrally therewith a hollow boss 63 for receiving a platelike lock that is indicated, generally at 64 and has an opening 65 for receiving the boss 63. A tubular rivet 66 extends through the lock 64 and the hollow boss 63 to retain the lock 64 in position. A nose portion 67, FIG. 2, on the lock 64 is arranged to engage a reentrant surface 68 on one side of the outer flange 24 to hold the handle 38 against counter clockwise movement to the unlatched position. The lock 64 is held in this position by gravity and it is limited in its counter clockwise movement by a stop 69 that is formed integrally with the handle 38. A nose portion 70 of the stop 69 is juxtaposed to a surface 71 of the stop 64 for limiting its pivotal movement in a counter clockwise direction. In the unlatched position of the latch 22 as illustrated in FIG. 4 the nose portion 70 of the stop 69 is juxtaposed to a surface 72 of the lock 64 to limit pivotal movement thereof in a clockwise direction.

In order to prevent unauthorized pivotal movement of the handle 38 from the latched to the unlatched position there is provided a sealing band 73, FIGS. 2 and 3. It is arranged to extend through an opening 74 in the outer flange 24, an opening 75 in the handle 38 and the upper end 76 of the arcuate section 46 of the slot 44.

As pointed out hereinbefore when the handle 38 is in the latched position the detent 60 is in an over center toggle locked position with respect to the pivot member 53. Referring to FIG. 2 it will be observed that the pivot axis of the pivot member 53 is indicated at 77 while the axis of the detent 60 is indicated at 78. The latter is located slightly to the left of a line 79 interconnecting the axes 77 and 78. Because of this relationship the handle 38 is retained in the locked position. There is sufficient clearance in the various parts to permit the handle 38, when sufficient force is applied thereto, to shift the detent 60 from the over center position shown in FIG. 2 and to cause it to ride over the shoulder 61 into the horizontal arm 51 of the L-shaped slot 49. On reverse pivotal movement of the handle 38 the detent 60 is pivoted back to the position illustrated in FIG. 2. It is desirable to use both the over center positioning of the detent 60 and the lock 64 to hold securely the handle 38 in the latched position.

In describing the operation of the latch 22 it will be assumed that the hatch cover 14 occupies the closed position as shown in FIG. 1 with the latch 22 as illustrated here as well as in FIGS. 2 and 3. The handle 38 is held in the latched position by the .over center relationship between the detent 60 and the axis 77 of the pivot member 53 as well as by the lock 64. In order to unlock the latch 22 the sealing band 73 is removed and the lock 64 then is pivoted manually in a counter clockwise direction to the position shown by broken lines in FIG. 4. This shifts the nose portion 67 away from the reentrant surface, 68. Sufficient force is then applied to the handle 38 in a counter clockwise direction to shift the detent 60 out of the notch 52, over the shoulder 61 and into engagement with the under surface 62 of the horizontal arm 51 in the keeper 37. As the handle 38 is pivoted, the follower 43 moves upwardly in the section 45 of the slot 44 to lift the arm 39 away from the distal end 18 of the latch strap 17. When the follower 43 enters the arcuate section 46 of the slot 44, the keeper 37 is pivoted in a counter clockwise direction as the translatory motion continues until the unlatched position is reached as shown in FIG. 4. Here the lock 64 is held by gravity in the position shown.

We claim:

l. A latch for holding the distal edge of a hatch cover in closed position over a trough of a hopper carcomprising: an upstanding outer flange secured to said hopper car, an upstanding inner flange secured to said hopper car and spaced from said outer flange toward said hatch cover; a keeper overlying said inner flange. guided for translatory and pivotal movement thereon, and having a laterally extending arm overlying said hatch cover in latched position; and a handle pivoted on said outer and inner flanges between said keeper, and said outer flange and cooperating with said keeper for shifting said laterally extending, arm between latched and unlatched positions, said. keeper having a platelike section juxtaposed to said inner flange, said platelike section having an L-shaped slot, and said handle having a detent extending into said L-shaped slot and movable along the lower arm thereof when said handle is pivoted between latched and unlatched positions.

2. A latch according to claim 1 wherein there is a notch at the juncture of the arms of said L-shaped slot constituting an extension of the lower surface of said lower arm for receiving said detent in the latched position of said handle.

3. A latch according to claim 2 wherein a pivot member extends through aligned openings in said outer and inner flanges, through the upper arm of said L-shaped slot, and through said handle.

4. A latch according to claim 3 wherein said detent in the latched position of said handle is in over center relation to the pivot axis of said handle extending through said pivot member. 

1. A latch for holding the distal edge of a hatch cover in closed positioN over a trough of a hopper car comprising: an upstanding outer flange secured to said hopper car, an upstanding inner flange secured to said hopper car and spaced from said outer flange toward said hatch cover; a keeper overlying said inner flange, guided for translatory and pivotal movement thereon, and having a laterally extending arm overlying said hatch cover in latched position; and a handle pivoted on said outer and inner flanges between said keeper and said outer flange and cooperating with said keeper for shifting said laterally extending arm between latched and unlatched positions, said keeper having a platelike section juxtaposed to said inner flange, said platelike section having an L-shaped slot, and said handle having a detent extending into said L-shaped slot and movable along the lower arm thereof when said handle is pivoted between latched and unlatched positions.
 2. A latch according to claim 1 wherein there is a notch at the juncture of the arms of said L-shaped slot constituting an extension of the lower surface of said lower arm for receiving said detent in the latched position of said handle.
 3. A latch according to claim 2 wherein a pivot member extends through aligned openings in said outer and inner flanges, through the upper arm of said L-shaped slot, and through said handle.
 4. A latch according to claim 3 wherein said detent in the latched position of said handle is in over center relation to the pivot axis of said handle extending through said pivot member. 